This disclosure is directed to a method and apparatus which assists in training a horn player. The term "horn" refers to the typical brass instrument which has a mouthpiece connecting to the horn providing music from the bell of the horn. It may be a valved instrument such as a typical trumpet, or it may be free of valves. This also includes a trombone which uses the slide mechanism instead of valves. This would also include the baroque trumpet and many other instruments of a similar nature. This generally excludes reed instruments. In such horns, music is made by a combination of player and instrument. An air chamber is defined in the throat and mouth of the player utilizing tongue, hard palate and lips. The lips vibrate controllably initiating the vibration of the air from the mouthpiece to the bell. Technique is learned by an apprentice and may be carried to professional maturity by the apprentice. Surprisingly however, professional horn players usually do not have long professional lives in contrast with those of other musicians. For instance, piano players maintain manual dexterity and can sustain premier professional careers even into their eighties. The same is also true of string instrument players. There is a surprising lack of durability or longevity in horn players enabling them to perform up to this age range.
While admittedly every musician is susceptible to sudden injury of their hands or around the mouth and reconstruction may be required, there is the perhaps cumulative injury not arising from specific trauma but arising from horn playing which may limit the professional life of a horn player. To this end, any injury around the lips or teeth (e.g., replacement of teeth with dentures) may well force a mature horn player to relearn completely his techniques or retire. The present method and apparatus are particularly useful in teaching and training a horn player so that fundamental techniques originally learned are those which permit greatest longevity in a professional career. It has been discovered that an important factor in the quality of music from a horn player is the force applied through the horn held in the hands of the horn player against his lips. The lip contact with the mouthpiece generally forms a circular impression on the lips of the player and extending slightly therebeyond. In the instance of a trumpet player, the trumpet is held in one hand and is forced against the lips, thereby assuring proper contact between lips of the player and the instrument. As the musician plays through various scales, or as sound levels are changed to higher levels, the force applied through the hand holding the instrument may be increased. There are times when this increase in force is essential. However, there is a minimum or threshold force which is sufficient to obtain proper cooperation between the lips of the horn player and the mouthpiece. When the threshold force is exceeded, there is likely to be no further benefit. Accordingly, the question is how much force is excessive in contrast with the required threshold force to achieve a quality note.
As will be understood, this is something that can be discussed by a music teacher with a beginner but it is not something that can be easily transferred from the teacher to the beginner. As an example, the amount of force must vary depending on the particular note of the scale being played and the sound level to be achieved. With short notes, one will appreciate that the dynamics vary so rapidly that it is very difficult to teach a trainee proper forces to be applied. Moreover, the proper force is always variant in light of the interrelationship between this particular factor and other factors which determine the quality of the music played by the musician.
There is also the possibility that the passage of time will change the necessary minimum force essential for a particular horn player. For instance, should a person begin study of the horn at a young age, as they pass through adolescence to physical maturity, such a change completely varies every aspect of the horn player's lung capacity, mouth and lip size, construction, and strength and will otherwise impact the capabilities of the horn player. This provides another variable which, over a period of time, can markedly shift or change the performance of the musician. In part, this change in performance will be manifest by forces required to sustain a selected note at a selected level.
As will be understood, this sets forth a relatively complex, time dependent relationship. One mode of dealing with this is brought out by the present invention. It is particularly intended to be used in training a musician to form a type of reference so to speak, the reference to be preserved and compared later to be certain that the musician has not discretely changed style, primarily reflected by modification of the force applied against the lips with the horn to the detriment of the horn player. The horn player at a beginning point in his career, at later points and as often as necessary in accordance with the present invention should play a number of notes such as scales or arpeggios, the notes being sustained at selected durations and intensities and such data is recorded. The data should include (as a function of time) the sound level and the frequency of the note played. In addition, the force applied to the lips through the horn is encoded by a means to be described and that force is also recorded. As will be recalled, there is an optimum range of forces to be applied for a given frequency at a selected sound level. This force range is observed by the present apparatus so that the horn player can vary within the desired range to reduce the force for each note and thereby reduce the load applied against his lips by the mouthpiece.
After the passage of time, the horn player should repeat the foregoing exercise and compare the data. It may be that unobservable changes have been implemented, perhaps to the detriment of the horn player. For instance, the horn player may be bigger and stronger and is therefore using more force to press the mouthpiece against his lips. When this occurs, the horn player may not be aware of the fact. Through the use of the present invention, such awareness can be increased and the horn player can then ease the force and return to the optimum range of forces. The present method and apparatus is further useful in the event a horn player is injured around his lips or teeth. For instance, dental work may cause some measure of change. The present method and apparatus enables a time dated set of data to be obtained indicative of optimum performance. If this is stored over a period of time, the horn player can then observe changes and make corrections. In general terms, the corrections will be reduction of the force applied against the lips by the mouthpiece so that the horn player reduces the force to the optimum range, and even the minimum within that range, thereby decreasing the load applied to the lips of the horn player. This will enable the horn player to sustain consistency over a longer professional life and also to extend his professional life. It is particularly useful in enabling the horn player to develop habits and techniques which extend the professional life of the horn player and particularly decrease cumulative damage (if any) occurring to the lips and mouth of the user.